Tag Archives: Granichen

Our European trip is coming to an end. It has been everything I had imagined and hoped it would be. These past four months have been a dream that I’ve holding onto for at least half of my life.

After a very short visit to Scotland and Ireland last week (both countries where we wanted to visit friends), we are back in Switzerland to pack up the rest of our stuff and slowly make our way back to Gothenburg where we fly back to Toronto on Tuesday.

Spring has arrived in Granichen. Actually, it almost looks like summer already…

I’m sad. I knew this adventure had to end eventually, but it feels like it came too soon. I’ve gone on 2-3 week trips before where I’ve felt desperate to be back in my bed and living in my apartment again. Not so much this time around. A few places really began to feel like home, especially Granichen. I don’t know when we’ll be back, but I sure hope it’s soon.

I do know that I need a break from city living. I need to be living near mountains, water, green spaces and nature. We fell in love with Berlin while we were there and one of those reasons is because it reminded us so much of Toronto except it had delicious German food (the bread, oh the bread) and its central language was German. I felt the same about many of the English cities we visited. It also made me realize how easy it could be (jobs and income aside) it could be to live in different parts of the world. The biggest reason that I stayed in Toronto, Canada for so long was for familiarity. My family lives there and I had built up a solid community of friends and work experience. Does that mean I will stay there forever? Not necessarily. Change, distance, and new perspective all help me evolve as a person and it makes me appreciate what I have in Toronto even more.

I have so much more to say about our trip, about all the different countries and cities that we’ve seen over the last four months. Alas, I’ve got too many thoughts and I have thousands of photos to sort through first. And the next phase of my life to figure out. That’s important, too. I’ll be writing more about my trip and experiences of course. I hope you’ll stick around to read about it.

There are some dreams that are worth pursuing, and there are others that you know are unattainable.

It’s a dream of mine to live in Switzerland. I love it here so much. Every time I go somewhere else, I start to think maybe I’ve put Switzerland too high up on a pedestal. I start to appreciate the city I’m in and think that maybe I’ve been wearing rose-coloured glasses. And then.. I come back and I fall in love all over again. Sadly, I don’t see it (moving here) happening any time soon. I don’t have a skill that would make me a desirable employee, and I don’t see myself getting any kind of long-term visa to stay here beyond 3 months within a 6 month period (thank you, Schengen Agreement).

Today, I did my last long run in Switzerland until… I’m not sure when. I wish I could say I savoured every last minute of it; I didn’t. I was still tired from the past week of training so I dragged my feet this morning and we didn’t end up leaving for our run until almost an hour later we had originally planned. Even though Mike planned one of the most scenic routes yet, I was so focused on getting to the end so that I could relax for the rest of the day and eat chocolate (being real here) to really take it in.

Except for this view that I was rewarded with after running up a hill. I savoured this.

It wasn’t until I had showered, eaten lunch, and devoured lots of chocolate that I realized that our time in Switzerland – and our trip – are close to coming to an end. We’re leaving for The Netherlands on Thursday for Mike’s marathon and then we’re going to spend the rest of our time in the UK and Turkey until we fly back to Toronto.

It’s funny how quickly habits can be broken or formed, and how quickly different “life things” move up and down the importance scale. Back in Toronto, I used to get hung up over so many minute details. It drove myself (and Mike) crazy and there were days when I would obsess over things that didn’t matter, but I couldn’t pull myself out of it.

Over here, I feel like I can just be. It’s been really refreshing, but I know it’s not sustainable. I’m starting to think about how things will be when we go back to Canada. I don’t feel ready to go back to my old life, worrying about silly things out of my control and placing too much importance on the wrong things. The constant obsessing – I don’t miss that at all.

I know I’m going to have to find a balance, but my fear is that I’ll try for a while and eventually slip back into old habits. I hope not.

But worrying too much about what hasn’t even happened yet is an old trait of mine that I’ve been trying to let go of anyway. So, what will be will be – and I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.